Brother, My Brother
by Zoken
Summary: Two young men living very seperate, but very similar lives are about to find something they ahve both been longing for: Family. Spider-Man... X-Men... a pair of brothers seperated by a secret affair.
1. Chapter 1

Peter looked through the box he had found under the stairs

Peter Parker was an average looking young man. He had brown hair of medium length for a guy. He had small indentations on his very normal looking nose from the glasses he wore when he was younger. He was not overly tall. He did not appear muscular at first glance, though a closer inspection would reveal a good bit of wiry muscle covering his frame. The most striking features Peter possessed were his warm brown eyes. They were not physically impressive. It was more the emotion that came from them. His eyes were full of compassion and intelligence. Teacher's used to love to watch his eyes soak up information they laid in front of him. They felt their hearts break when larger tougher students would take advantage of him. That was back in elementary school. Now, in high school Peter's instructors were usually so embittered by the world and the harsh odds they had to over come, they didn't care about the students who were trodden underfoot. Those that did notice Peter simply did not have the time to help him.

Lately those that did take notice had noticed something disturbing; slipping. Peter's grades had declined since he'd entered high school. His science teacher had a friend still teaching middle school, and had heard rumors of the brilliant Peter Parker. The science teacher had seen a glimmer of that Peter Parker at the start of his freshman year, but it quickly vanished. It was replaced with a constantly tired, forgetful, and frequently roughed up Peter Parker. He excused it all as being mourning. The boy had lost his uncle, and father figure, only a few months into the school year. Now midway through Peter sophomore year things weren't doing any better.

Peter looked through the box he had found under the stairs. He had been looking for an old project he had done in seventh grade. It had earned him an A, Peter figured it would get him at least a low B now. It wasn't like he had extra time to do a project anymore. The box he had found was marked "Mistake". It was written in an odd handwriting. It wasn't Aunt May's. it wasn't Uncle Ben's (that would have been painful). Which meant that it was either his father's or his mother's. He had found something that stopped him cold.

It was a small photograph, fairly well done (as a budding photographer himself he had grown quite good at judging pictures). It was a man, a woman, and a baby. He recognized the woman fairly easily. It was his mother. However the man and the baby in the picture were complete strangers. He easily recognized his father, despite not having any real memory of him. Also he had had Aunt May pull out the baby pictures around Gwen and Felicia too often not to recognize himself as a baby.

He stood up and walked into the kitchen where Aunt may was sitting drinking her coffee and reading the Daily Bugle. Peter didn't even remember to look proud at the picture he had taken adorning the front page. "Aunt May," his voice quavered.

May parker looked up at Peter in questioningly. Her nephew didn't often sound this confused. "Who are these people?" he asked as she showed her the picture.

He expected her to scrunch up her face as she always did when she tried to remember someone she hadn't seen in a long time. But instead her eyes went wide in recognition. "Oh, God," she whispered, "I'd almost forgotten."

"Who is that with my mom?" he asked again.

May laid her paper down and looked at Peter with eyes begging to be forgiven. "Peter, people aren't perfect beings. I need you to understand that before I tell you this."

"Tell me what?"

May took a deep breath and began. "Peter about two years before you were born, your mother was stationed away from your father. You know they were both scientists, you mother was working on an experimental rocket fuel, and that man there was the test pilot she was working with. She had been never been away from your father in her married life.

"This story goes the same for the test pilot. They had an affair Peter. Both of them confessed to their spouses, but there was a complication. Your mother was pregnant with the pilot's child. Your father was less forgiving than the pilot's wife, and said that she could not keep the child.

"The pilot and his wife agreed to raise the child as their own. They even gave the boy their name, 'Summers'. Your father forgave your mother, we all did. I didn't want you to think less of her Peter. That's why I never told you."

Peter's mind was reeling. All his life he had no one to talk to. He had always been the loner and the outsider. The truth was the one thing he had wanted more than anything was a brother. Now he was hearing that he had one.

"What happened to them?" he demanded.

"The last I heard they had moved to Alaska with Scott, the boy, and their own son Alex."

"So I have a brother," Peter began summarizing. May nodded as he stated the facts, "His name is Scott, and we don't know where he is?"

"That's the long and short of it." She couldn't bring herself to face Peter. His face held such hurt. She knew he couldn't bear much more. She only prayed that if he did search and find him, that the boy wasn't dead.

Peter went to his room and didn't come out the rest of the night, at least not that Aunt May knew. He left at around midnight to do some rounds of the city. After all, Peter Parker still had the power and responsibility of Spider-Man

!! !!

The next day at school, Peter spent his programming class scouring the Internet. The blonde beside him hissed, "Peter! You're gonna get in trouble. We're supposed to be writing that game code!"

Peter turned to her with a scowl on his face. He switched windows to reveal not just the "Pong" game that they were supposed to be writing, but also the fact that he had written a 3-D version of "Pong". He turned back to his search. Unfortunately the name "Summers" was fairly common.

"Scowl at me again Peter," Felicia purred. "It looks so sexy on you."

Peter didn't even turn to look at her this time. He didn't really like Felicia all that much lately. Ever since he found out that she was really only truly interested in Spider-Man, and not really Peter Parker, she seemed less and less attractive to him. She was always trying to get Peter to act more like Spider-Man. To her, Spider-man was funny, dangerous, and brave. Peter on the other hand was introverted, brainy, and a geek.

Peter had been hacking his way through lightly encrypted files to find information to help him uncover the whereabouts of his "long-lost brother". As the class ended, Felicia left, touching Peter's shoulder as she went, hoping for some reaction. There was none. She left and Peter stayed. He was planning on spending lunch in here. He could always pick up a dog or a pretzel on the way home. That was when he smelled something that he knew he shouldn't; Pizza.

He still didn't tear his eyes from the screen, but he did listen.

"Young lady," the lab monitor said. "You know very well that we don't allow food in here."

"Please," begged the second voice, that of a student, and a girl. "Its not even for me. Its for him, Peter." A smile turned one corner of Peter's mouth. He knew that voice all too well.

"Well..." the lab monitor mused, "Alright, but be clean."

Peter changed screens to look like he was working on an essay, and then turned to look at the girl now sitting next to him. She was dressed more conservatively than Felicia had, and her blonde hair was more yellow than Felicia's. Felicia had platinum hair. This was quite obviously not Felicia. It was, in fact, Gwen Stacy. Gwen had been Peter's best friend for seven years now. They had met in middle school, when Gwen's dad transferred to the local police, and she was the new kid.

Peter had been the geek that normally showed the new kids around, but the difference this time was that Gwen, as beautiful as she was, was kind and sweet person. She was one of the most popular girls in school, but her best friend was the least popular. She would often protect Peter when bullies tried to pick on him, and he would help her when she needed it. The truth was that Peter could get promoted out of high school if he wanted, but, to use his own words, where was the fun in that.

"So," she asked, looking at the self-typing essay screen. "How's the search coming?"

"Okay," Peter said taking a bite of the pizza, while changing back to his normal screen with the other hand. "I started out with twenty "Scott Summers" in the country, then I whittled it down by age range, next I eliminated those who had never been a military dependant, and now I am stuck."

"What's the problem?" Gwen asked as she looked at Peter's screen. It had one window with code scrawling across it. Another part of it contained information that she could actually understand, and then the last simply showed Peter's online name; Zp1d3rW3I3L337.

"Well," he explained. "I have three names that fit the given criteria, and I need to figure it down to one."

"Can't you check the birth certificate?"

"Way noticeable. I only wanna do that if I am checking to make sure."

"Can you find their driver's licenses?"

"Yeah, but how would that help?"

"Pictures genius boy," Gwen explained. "You have that picture of your mom, and his dad?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he will probably look something like them."

"Oh," Peter mumbled embarrassed. As smart as Peter was, it was quite amazing to Gwen how often he missed obvious things.

Peter pulled up three diver's license pictures and he looked at them with Gwen. One was from Boston, another from Chicago, and the last from Bayville. Peter took out the picture of his brother with his mom, and his brother's father. He looked at the pictures, "None of them has red hair." Peter said blankly.

"Good bye Boston," Gwen said as Peter removed that file.

"Look that one has my mom's nose." Peter pointed at the last one.

"You both have her hair," Gwen said with an elbow to Peter's ribs as she spoke of the same one.

"This guy may have both the same color hair," Peter said referring to the one from Chicago, "But other than that there is no resemblance. This guy from Bayville is frightening."

"Yeah, I mean look at those glasses. Yuck!"

"Gotta be prescription though, I don't think they let you were any others when taking that picture."

"Like we would know," Gwen said with a smile. She knew the likely hood of either her or Peter ever getting a driver's license was slim to none. Both of them wanted to live in the city when they graduated. "Alright then," Gwen said, "Check Bayville's birth certificate."

Peter pulled it up and there it was. Mother's name: Mary Parker.

Peter then pulled up everything he could find on this one guy. It turned out he didn't need to hack to find it. Scott Summers, or Cyclops as was his mutant name, was fairly famous. The mutants of Bayville that he lived with were all fairly famous, or rather infamous.

"I have to go. We can take that subway line they just reopened to get there."

"I'll come too if you want."

"Gwen, I . . ." he couldn't think of a good reason to ask her to come, except that he didn't think he could make it alone. He couldn't reason asking her to come.

"I'm coming," she said simply. Once again Peter thanked god for the fact that he knew Gwen Stacy.

Three hours of school, one hour of phone explanations to legal guardians, and two hours of public transit later they stood at the front gates of the intimidating Xavier Institute. Peter pushed the call button and waited for someone to respond.

Peter was bewildered by what he heard next.


	2. Chapter 2

Peter stood quaking in front of that speaker

Peter stood quaking in front of that speaker. What he heard . . . surprised him.

"Welcome to Good Burger home of the Good Burger, can I take your order?" asked the voice over the intercom.

"What the hell?" said Peter.

"One order of 'what the hell', that'll be eight bucks," responded the voice. Another voice could be heard chuckling in the background.

"Is this some sort of joke?" asked Gwen, getting quickly annoyed in the name of her friend.

"Okay, okay," the voice seemed to relent, "Two fifty."

"Listen I'm looking for Scott Summers," Peter said trying to make sense of all this.

Then they heard another voice on the other end. It had a German accent. "Get avay from zhere, Bobby!" they heard the voice sigh and respond to them. "Guten tag, how may I help you?"

Peter switched to German, "I'm looking for Scott Summers, I'm here about . . ." he paused. "His brother."

"Come in," the German voice said urgently. "I'll go get him."

As they walked up the driveway, Gwen asked Peter, "When did you learn German?"

"Fourth grade," he responded absently. His mind was on something, to him, far more important.

They opened the large lavish doors, and their breath was taken away. It was huge. It truly was a mansion, just like it looked. Two young men came tearing down the staircase. Peter recognized one of them as Scott. The other, Peter recognized as one of the reported mutants. Peter swallowed hard. Scott stopped dead in front of them, his face pale and worried. "What is it? What's happened to Alex?" Scott demanded.

"Who's Alex?" asked Peter, who hadn't bothered to remember that Scott had another brother, Alex.

"My brother," Scott said, not liking this guy right off the bat. "Kurt said you were here about my brother."

"Oh, right. I forgot about him," Peter said. "I am here about your brother, but not Alex." Peter explained.

"What do you mean?" Scott said stepping back now, "I only have one brother."

The one to speak next was not any of the teens, but rather the elder of the house; Professor Charles Xavier. "That is not entirely true, Scott," Xavier said.

Scott turned, keeping both parties in front of him. "What do you mean? I don't remember another brother."

"That's because your half brother, Peter was not raised with you," explained the Professor calmly.

"What are you talking about?" Scott demanded again.

"A secret your parents will requested remain so until there was no other option. I respected that, because I thought you needed to idealize your parents." The professor's face was sad and old. He was not happy to deliver this news. He put his hand to his temple, and Scott almost leapt back in shock as the knowledge flowed into his head.

Scott looked between both Peter and the professor, saying, "No, no . . . why would you lie like this."

Peter stepped up wearing an expression similar to Scott's. "I know, this is hard . . . But its true. I had to swallow this about my mom."

"But my father loved my mom," Scott continued; now yelling in Peter's face. But Peter, having faced so much more frightening, stayed his ground.

"My mother loved my father," he responded. He used his best, 'calm the beast' voice. "But people are not perfect. Their spouses forgave them. I forgive my mother. You can forgive your father."

Scott turned his back on all three that were gathered there, and Kurt, who had stayed on the stairs. A shudder seemed to run down his body. He turned back around. "So you are my half-brother?" Scott asked of Peter. Then he turned to Gwen, "And Half-sister?"

"Me?" Gwen said, laughing nervously. "I'm just moral support. No relation to Parkers, and I'm more of an autumn than a summer." She paused for a moment. "Ooookay, wrong time for a joke," she said.

Peter stepped forward. "I'm Peter Parker. I'm your half-brother." Peter swallowed hard.

"Nice to meet you," Scott said blankly. "I'm Scott Summers."

"I do believe I'll leave you two to get acquainted," the Professor said. "Kurt, Why don't you help me give Ms. Stacy a tour of our facility."

"How did you . . .?" Gwen began but the Professor cut her off with a wave of his hand. "In due time young lady, in due time." He ushered Kurt and Gwen out of the room, and Scott went to a couch.

"Wow," Scott said quietly.

"I know," Peter agreed. "I nearly flipped out when my Aunt came clean with me."

Scott looked at him in confusion. "Your Aunt?" he asked.

"Oh, I lived with my Aunt and Uncle since I was five, when my parents died. My Uncle died a few years ago."

"I'm sorry," Scott said solemnly. He too knew the pain of being an orphan. "How'd . . . How'd you loose 'em?" he asked.

"Plane crash," Peter said quietly. "At least for my parents. My Uncle died . . ." he paused as tears rose in his throat. "In a carjacking."

"Mine went in a plane too," Scott said, for the first time looking Peter in the eyes.

"Sorry man," Peter said in response.

"So . . ." Scott started. "What do you do? I mean in your free time."

"I work for the Bugle," he said. "I'm a photographer." A note of pride struck in his voice.

"Cool," Scott said, trying to pull up from his emotional tailspin. "Do you know the guy who gets all those cool shots of Spider-Man?"

Peter chuckled a moment. "I am the guy who gets all those cool shots of Spider-Man." Peter decided to leave the fact that he WAS Spider-Man for another time.

Scott's eyebrows shot up. "Isn't he dangerous?" he asked.

"Naw," Peter said, covering his butt quickly. "Sure he's kinda rude, but he's just tryin' to do what's right. At least that's what he tells me."

"You've talked to him," Scott said, becoming more fascinated.

"Yeah, we have an arrangement. I get the pictures, and he gets a cut of the fee." Not an entire lie. For now it was acceptable.

"Cool," Scott said guardedly. Peter thought he heard some doubt in his voice.

"What about you?" Peter asked leaning back as they both became more comfortable. "What's your situation here? Any girls?"

Scott blushed a little and said, "We'll I'm kinda starting something with Jean. She's been my best friend forever here, and now," he shrugged his shoulders.

"I mean for me," Peter said playfully kicking at Scott. "No, I'm kidding that's good. You said what I do is dangerous, but what about you? I have heard of mutants, specifically the X-Men doing all sorts of stuff. The whole Apocalypse thing, all these riots. Isn't what you're doing dangerous?"

"Well," Scott said, shifting into his brave leader mode, "The X-Men are trained to use our powers in non-lethal ways, and to lead peaceful lives. We step in to help defend the greater good from those who would abuse their powers."

Peter looked at him and said, "You're about to offer me a brochure aren't you?"

Scott laughed. "Actually . . . yeah, we have brochures."

!! !!

In another room in the mansion, Kurt and Prof. Xavier were showing Gwen Stacy around.

"So this whole place is really cool," she said eying everything. "But you didn't tell me how you knew my last name."

"I have the gift of telepathy Ms. Stacy," the Professor explained.

"So you can, like, read my mind?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes, but I generally use a great deal of discretion and humility before entering another's mind."

"Jya," Kurt agreed. "He's no fun with his powers."

Professor Xavier chuckled with Kurt and Gwen. "Well I supposed by your definition Kurt, I'm not."

Gwen looked at Kurt. "So, Kurt?" she asked. "What's your power?"

"Vell, I can teleport," Kurt explained, and then demonstrated by 'porting right behind her. She could tell there was more that he wasn't telling her.

"Neat," she reveled. "Is there something wrong?" she pressed.

"Vell . . ." Kurt said, even more hesitant this time.

"Kurt has some abnormalities that lend him to be more closely associated with darkness. We hide them with this image inducer." Xavier explained, pointing to Kurt holo-watch, but not indicating whether or not to turn it off.

Gwen looked at the watch and said, "Hey, that's Stark Tech, design."

"Impressive," The Professor said. "How did you know?"

"Peter dragged me to a few science expo's and the Stark Logo is on forty percent of that techno crap."

"Vell," Kurt said chucking, hiding the watch nervously with his hand. "How do you think they're doing?"

"They are getting along famously," the professor said.

"I think so too," Gwen agreed.

"He doesn't think fraulien," Kurt said in a joking manner. "He knows."


	3. Chapter 3

"What's the deal with the blonde

"What's the deal with the blonde?" Scott asked, to make conversation. "She's pretty."

Peter blushed. "Gwen's just my friend."

"Really?" Scott asked doubtfully. "Cause' she came all the way from Queens to support you as you met your 'long-lost-brother'. Not many friends do that."

"Gwen does," Peter said with a smile. "Besides, she couldn't be interested in me. I'm just... me." Peter shrugged. He wasn't saddened by the statement, but treated it like it was a fact.

"What does that mean?" Scott said.

"I'm not really Mr. Popularity. I'm pretty much the class punching bag," Peter explained. "Gwen's the girl that all the guys are after, but will probably never get because she's too smart to date them."

"So, who are you going with?" Scott pressed.

"No one now... I sorta had a girlfriend once," Peter said while blushing again. He was referring to his fling with the Black Cat as Spider-Man.

"What happened?" Scott asked.

"Well, she found the real me to be... Dull," he said trying not to explain too much.

"What do you mean 'the real you'?" Scott asked confusedly.

"Sometimes people think I'm different than I really am." Peter tried to hide the deceit from his voice. "Any way this girl tried to change me. Make me someone I wasn't. I just... I didn't like the idea that she wasn't really interested in me."

"I think any guy would have done the same," Scott said, proud of his "little brother's" decision.

"I disagree," Peter said, taking out his wallet. He pulled out a picture of Felicia. Despite how much he disliked her, Felicia was a friend in Peter's mind, and he kept her picture around like he kept around pictures of all his friends. All three. There were five pictures if you counted the one of Aunt May and Uncle Ben on the second Honeymoon in Hawaii, and the one of his parents on their wedding day.

"I take that back, you are way over principled, she is totally hot," Scott said looking at the picture of Felicia. In typical Felicia Fashion, she'd given him a rather racy picture of herself. Needless to say, Aunt May didn't approve of his being friends with her.

"Watch it, don't you have a girlfriend?" Peter teased, snatching back his picture.

"Yeah..." Scott shrugged. "She's got nothing on Jean."

"Thank you," said a voice from the stairs.

Scott looked up and smiled. Peter turned around and saw a lovely redhead descending the stairs. Scott walked to her and said to Peter. "Pete, this is Jean, the girl I was talking about."

"Jean," Scott said and tapped the side of his head. Jean squinted her eyes as she looked at him. She then spread her eyes in shock.

"Your brother?!"

"How'd she..." Peter trailed off, a little worried.

"She's a telepath," Scott explained.

"Oh," Peter said, now very worried.

"Its nice to meet you," Jean offered her hand.

Peter shook her hand, but he felt his spider-sense going off. She was feeling the edges of his mind. Peter's eyes narrowed as he thought, 'Get out.'

Jean shook her head as she withdrew her hand. "Sorry... I was just trying to get to know you."

"Jean mind-peepin' withawt permission again?" asked a southern drawl from the stairs.

Peter looked up and nearly disengaged his jaw. She had lily-white skin, with dark eye shadow and dark purple lips. She wore a green see through shirt over her tank top. This combination allowed her to show the ample cleavage, without looking trashy. She had green leggings, a little ripped in places, and a black skirt. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Ah'm Rogue."

She offered her hand and Peter shook it. "You a new student?" she asked.

"No," Peter said. "I'm here to meet him." He gestured over his shoulder at Scott.

"Whah you wanna meet the world's biggest boy scout?" she asked taking a playful jab at Scott's stomach. She and Scott were on fairly good terms. He was one of the few rare genuinely decent guys in the world. She no longer carried a torch for him though, she just thought of him as a good friend… that didn't mean she had to like Jean, though. She knew Scott very well, having absorbed some of his mind. Scott was genuine and kind for no other reason than that was how he thought he was supposed to be. It wasn't an act with Scott, he really was that way. She'd also shared headspace with Jean. She was hiding something, and it was something that, to Rogue, felt cold. Scott blocked carefully, but with a smile and Rogue turned back to Peter.

"Rogue, it turns out this guy is my brother," Scott said, moving around behind Peter.

"Ya'll kiddin!" she said. "I thaught it was bad enough with just the two a ya Summers boys."

"Actually, I'm a Parker, Peter Parker to be exact."

"Ah know that name from som'eres," she said. "You work for th' Bugle don't ya?"

"Technically no, but they're the only ones I've ever sold pictures to," Peter explained. "Technically I'm a freelance photographer."

"But you are the one who takes those pictures a' Spider-Man raht?" she pressed.

"Yeah, that's me," Peter said, blushing only a little.

"Those'r some good shots. Spider-Man's a hero in mah opinion," she said. "Course not everyone is as level headed as me," she said casting a sarcastic look at Scott.

Scott shrugged. "I think he's doing a job best left to the police," he defended himself, with Jean nodding in agreement. It was obviously an old discussion that had downgraded from argument. Peter came across that sometimes, Spider-Man was almost as divisive a topic as politics

Peter looked over at his bag and thought for a moment. "Just a sec!" he said suddenly. He rushed over to his bag and pulled out his camera. He also fished around and found an extra roll of film (he was halfway through the one in the camera). "You guys mind?" he asked.

They looked amongst each other and all said, "Sure why not."

Jean and Scott stood on the steps, Scott behind her with his arms around her, and Jean leaning back into him. Peter took the shot from the side, so the railing was in the picture. "That looks great!" Peter said. He snapped a couple pictures of them like that. He looked around and frowned. "Rogue, this place just isn't conducive to an image containing one of your demeanor."

"What?" she asked in confusion.

Peter mentally slapped himself. He had a habit of using big words when he was excited. "I mean to say that this place doesn't look right for a picture of you."

Rogue looked around. "Got that right," she sighed. She loved the institute, but the fact was the Goth clothing was indicative of her preferred style. She would have loved to live in a Cathedral or castle, some place with truly classic architecture. "C'mon, my room's this way."

Peter, who hadn't ever been invited to a girl's bedroom before (unless you count the Black Cat offering a motel room), followed in a stupor.

He looked around. "This is nice," he said. It was dark with veils over lamps, and dark walls. The windows were heavily shrouded, which is when Peter was thankful his camera had a flash on it. He looked around and grabbed a book and handed it to Rogue. "Here, sit on the bed, back against the head board," she did so, and Peter smiled. "Perfect." He snapped a few pictures.

Peter wound his camera, happy with the shots he was getting. Rogue laughed a little with a sardonic look. She was looking at his chest. Peter looked down and screamed, unfortunately for Peter he screamed like a girl. You see when he looked down, he saw a brunette girl's head sticking. "Like, why does Rogue get a, like, fashion shoot?"

Peter leapt back, luckily the girl didn't go with him.

The brunette looked at him with a confused expression, then realization poured over her face. "Sorry, I, like, totally forget that that, like, freaks people out."

"I'm Kitty by the way. Scott already told me who you were," she held her hand out, and Peter shook it, not quite sure if he would get a long with this girl. Just then Peter's spider-sense kicked in and he jumped back as a puff of smoke and sound like compressing air. There was the boy who had answered the door.

"I heard a scream," explained Kurt. "Vas zat you Keetty?"

"Uh, actually that was me," Peter said raising his hand embarrassedly.

Kurt snickered a little, but then yelped in pain. He turned around and grabbed, to Peter's surprise, a blue spaded tail. "Sister!" he said accusatorily as Rogue strode past.

"Now who's screamin' lahke a girl?" she laughed. Rogue gave a slight nod to Peter. She'd had to deal with Kitty's head appearing in her torso, or her reaching through every now and then. It was only slightly less annoying than actually conversing with Kitty. Rogue smiled at that wicked thought. She cared about Kitty, like anyone would care about a little sister. That didn't mean she had to like the girl.

Peter raised his hand. "Is it just me or does he have a tail?" he asked.

Kurt looked embarrassed and pressed a button on his watch. The abnormally normal image fizzled out, to be replaced with the furry elfish features of the Nightcrawler.

Peter, to Kurt's amazement, hit his head. "I was wondering why you were wearing a Stark Tech. Image inducer!"

"You know Stark Tech?" asked Kurt.

"I like to keep up with current technology," Peter said, glad for once to tell the truth. He hadn't been too shocked with Kurt's appearance. He'd seen farm more terrifying and far more bizarre appearances from his time as a super-hero.

"Like, back to my question!" Kitty interrupted. "Why were you, like, taking pictures of Rogue?"

"I'm a photographer," Peter explained. "I like to have Pictures of people I know. I've found it helps me remember names and stuff. Did you want your picture taken?" he offered, holding up the camera."

Kitty squealed so loud that the three others in the room had to take a second to regain their hearing. "That would be so cool!"

Peter looked at Kurt, who played with his tail and looked pensive. "They're just for me and my Aunt... and she doesn't hate mutants. I can even get you some prints." Peter hesitated to suggest sending them home to family, not knowing what kind of family situations the various mutants had to deal with. "I do the developing myself, so no one will see anything you don't want."

Kurt nodded. "Vhy not," Kurt finally relented.

Peter took a picture of Kurt hanging from a chandelier in the main foyer. He was pulling a face and sticking out his tongue. Peter had a feeling he was going to like Kurt. Kitty had her picture taken in the dining room. Her pose was looking up from reading a book. Her picture seemed to say that she was smarter than she let on, something Peter had learned to look for.

After about an hour of hanging around with Scott again, they were ready to leave. Gwen had seen the whole mansion, while Peter had been taking tons of Pictures. In the end he had even gotten a shot with Prof. Xavier smiling his eerily wise smile.

Peter developed the pictures that evening. He realized that some of his Spider-man shots had been on the first roll of film, so he decided to swing over to the Bugle on his way home from school. In the morning he swept all the prints he'd developed into an envelope and took off.

He entered the office of J. Jonah Jameson, and set the envelope down on Jameson's desk. When J.J. realized Peter was there, he snatched the pictures up and looked over them. "Did it, did it," he repeated as he sorted threw the pictures. Then suddenly he changed expressions. "What the hell is this crap?" he said. Peter realized he had gotten to his Pictures from the institute. "What the HELL!" he said, dropping the rest of the photos. Peter knew J. J. was staring at a picture of a fuzzy blue elf pulling a face at the camera.

"Those are pictures of the Bayville mutants sir," Peter explained picking up the dropped photos. "I didn't mean to turn those in, if I can just have them back I'll..."

"Wait... wait a damn minute. These of these girls and that boy and that... whatever the hell it is are those mutants in Bayville? Why, the look almost normal!"

"Well they are for the most part normal," Peter said, offended on his new friends behalf.

"This could make an interesting story," Jonah said, not even listening to Peter. "URICH!" Jonah bellowed. Jonah always bellowed. Peter was beginning to think that Jameson didn't believe in intercoms.

Ben Urich popped his head in the door. "Yeah boss?" he asked. Ben Urich was a handsome man, in his late thirties with glasses. He looked fit and trained, and had red hair that was just beginning to recede. "hey, kid," Ben said when he saw Peter.

"Whaddo we got on these mutants in Bayville?" Jameson demanded.

"Nothin', we've never bothered to head down there or check them out."

"What does anyone else have on these mutants?" Jameson seemed to be having an interesting train of thought.

"Everyone else pretty much agrees that they're evil... even thought they did save most of us from that Apocalypse guy."

"So we might be the first cover them from a positive angle? Surprise people, sell a few extra copies." Jameson took out a cigar from his desk and lit it up. "This could work..."


	4. Chapter 4

"You can't run those

"You can't run those!" Peter shouted.

J.J. stared at the boy. He was accustomed to having people yell at him, this was the consequence of not being a nice person. What surprised J.J. was the fact that the boy was commanding him. People do not just command J. Jonah Jameson. "You submitted these boy I'll run them if I like!" Jameson bellowed back.

"They're my pictures. If I say you can't run them, you can't run them!"

Ben Urich sat back in his chair and looked through these photos while the two argued. The photos were really quite good, but then Ben expected that from this kid.

"If you take those pictures back I'll have you black listed from every paper in this city!"

"I promised my brother and his friends that they were just for me and my aunt!" Peter was somewhere between angry and pleading.

Ben's head popped up surprised at the words "my brother". "Brother?" he asked curiously.

"Kid, you should be glad for the kinda story I'm gonna run," Jameson's tone was condescending now.

"Just like those ones about Spider-Man?"

"This is nothing like Spider-Man!" Jameson responded slamming his fist on the desk.

That actually caused Peter to pause. "Why?" he asked.

"I look at these photo's… I don't see super-humans. I see a minority." Jameson sat down behind his desk, suddenly looking tired and old. "Boy I got my start in journalism by riding with the Freedom Riders, and reporting back to my small town paper. Someone got a hold of one of my articles and liked it." He sighed. "I looked up to those people I rode with. They were people of any race, agreeing that what was happening to the blacks was wrong. They were putting their lives on the line for this idea." Jameson pointed to the pictures. "Those could help me turn people's views to the positive for mutants. I see mutants as today's Blacks. They're a minority struggling for their piece of freedom and equality. They're fighting for their spot in the world… for the right to drink from the same fountain as everyone else." Jameson finished and looked at Peter solemnly.

Peter opened his mouth to explain that he still needed the pictures back, but at that moment the intercom buzzed. The girl at the desk said, "Mr. Jameson, there's a Prof. Charles Xavier on the phone for you."

"Tell him to wait," Jameson said in a dangerously low tone. His tone betrayed his infamously short patience.

"No!" Peter and Ben Urich said at the same time.

Jameson recoiled. Ben explained. "Prof. Charles Xavier is this guy," Ben said as he held up the picture of the mysterious smiling man in the wheel chair.

Jameson punched the intercom button and greeted the telepath. "Hello, Professor. To what do I owe the honor of your call?"

"Well you see," explained Xavier. "I believe I have a solution to the problem you and Mr. Parker were just discussing."

"How did you know about that?" Urich asked, obviously impressed.

"We all have our little gifts, Mr. Urich," Xavier responded humbly. "Now, my solution is that Saturday morning, Mr. Urich comes down to the Institute and talk to some of my students and staff himself. He might also wish to take along a photographer to get pictures to accompany his story. He could pick Mr. Parker up on his way out to Bayville since it is on the way from his apartment, and then Mr. Parker wouldn't have to break his word to his friends."

"Sure," Jameson said weakly. For the first time in his life he was utterly amazed at someone else's ability.

"Oh, and when you get home Mr. Parker, please give Scott a call, he's interested in speaking with his brother again," Xavier added.

"No problem," Peter said. Peter was also a little creeped out

Peter arrived home with is photo's in hand, and after showing them off to Aunt May, who cooed over every photo (especially Kurt's), he called Scott.

"Peter, is that you man?" came Scott's voice. He sounded like he was busy.

"Did I call at a bad time?" answered Peter.

"A little. Xavier told me that you got us some good press coming."

Peter frowned. "It was an accident really. My boss, Jameson I told you about him, saw my pictures of you guys."

"Its cool man. But thanks for trying to get the pictures back."

"Thank Xavier, he broke us up before we killed each other."

Scott laughed. "Just take care of yourself, and I'll see you Saturday."

"See you then."

As Scott hung up the phone he turned to the others. He was in full uniform with Rogue, Kurt and Logan. "Ready to go everyone?" he asked.

"You bet," Rogue replied.

"Jya man," Kurt called.

"Whatever Slim," Logan said getting into the driver's seat of the X-Van.

An hour and a half later, they were positioned on the roof of a building in New York. "Get goin' already," Rogue chided Cyclops.

Cyclops turned his face to the sky and let loose and optic blast. Ten minutes later, he repeated it. The others stood around waiting. Then a fire person flew down and hovered in front of them, with a blonde at his side. The blond looked to be in her early twenties, and the fiery boy, if they could make out his face, looked to be in his late teens.

"Who are you and what do you want?" demanded, Susan Storm, The Invisible Girl..

"And don't think we won't kick evil ass!" added her brother Johnny Storm; The Human Torch

The X-Men on the roof looked from one to the other. "We're actually just trying to flag down Spider-Man," Scott explained.

"Web-Head!?" exclaimed the Human Torch. "that…" he proceeded to rattle off a list of offensive names.

"Johnny!" Sue scolded him.

"Sorry sis," Johnny said, obviously not.

"Sorry ta bug ya," Rogue said.

"No prob, just thought it might have been important," Johnny said. He flew off mumbling something about Reed taking the next shift.

As Sue got onto one of her invisible flying discs, she turned for a moment and said. "If you actually see him, tell him we said hello. He's a nice boy, if a bit rough around the edges." She'd said it like a concerned mother. She looked at her brother's retreating form. "And don't let Johnny's tone fool you for a moment, He cares about him." She sped off, waving as she went. Only Kurt even considered passing along the message.

A similar instance occurred when Thor landed, but he had no reaction to Spider-man's name either way, he just flew off.

After an hour and a half of the signaling, another figure dropped in front of them. This one was most definitely not Spider-Man. This was a woman. And if the way Scott and Kurt's tongues were hanging was any indication, Rogue could tell she was way hot.

She wore a form fitting black cat suit, with the front unzipped down between her breasts, which were a D-cup, and almost past her ribs. She wore a black mask and pair of cat ears. Orange lenses in her mask hid her eyes. "Are you four looking for trouble?" she asked in a seductive purr.

"Nope," said Wolverine, slapping both Kurt and Scott on the backs of their heads. "Just the Spider."

"Well, I usually work with the Spider, maybe I can pass along a message," she said pressing herself against Wolverine, receiving no reaction other than annoyance.

"Ours is the kind that needs to be delivered person to person," Wolverine said with a crackle of his knuckles. Scott shook himself from his drooling and fired another blast into the air.

"I'm the Black Cat," she said, offering her hand to Kurt. "Aren't you a cutie?"

"Mein girlfriend thinks so," he said, beginning to get over her appearance.

"Oh, the cute ones are always taken," she said as she gave a fake pout. She looked Scott up and down, as he gave another blast. "Too straight arrow for me." She looked over Wolverine. "Too old."

"Alleluia," Wolverine said sarcastically.

"How about you," she said running a gloved hand across Rogue's cheek.

"Ah don' swing that way," She said coldly. She grabbed the girl's hand, and twisted it back so that the tendon's strained. Cat didn't make a sound, though an ordinary person would have yelped.

"Go sister!" Kurt called.

That was when Spider-Man swung in. He had seen the blasts and thought, but not really considered that it was Scott. Now here were three people that he really liked, on that he really didn't like, and one that he didn't know. Time to play dumb with most of them. "So not that I don't appreciate the whole 'ladies wrestling thing, but what's up with the signal flares?"

Rogue let go of Black Cat and strode over to back up Scott, who took a determined look in his stature. "We were lookin' for you," Scott said forcefully.

"By zi vay," Kurt interrupted. "Before I forget, Sue Storm said Hello,"

Both Rogue and Scott shot him dirty looks while Wolverine just leaned against the wall chuckling. Wolverine noticed that Spider-Man shifted and looked down at the comment, like he was touched.

"ANYWAY!" Scott said loudly. "I wanted to talk to you. I needed to give you a warning." Scott grabbed Spider-Man by the collar and growled at him. "Turns out Peter Parker is my brother. He believes in you, but I don't. If you hurt him, the X-Men will make sure you are brought to justice." Scott released him with a shove.

Black Cat stood up and said, quite bluntly, "Say what?!"

"Shut it Cat!" Spider-Man said quickly. He lowered his face into Cyclops'. "Are you kidding me?"

"Do we look like the kidding type?" asked Wolverine as Cyclops released Spider-Man.

Spider-Man walked up to him, looked him really close in the face, and responded, "No, but I bet your mom still thinks you're a cutie."

"Look," Rouge said, with a bit of bark in her voice. "Ah do think yer a hero, BUT I also think that this is a dangerous business, and if Pete gets hurt, Ain't no force on Heaven or Earth gonna stop us from brinin' the pain down on you an' whoever else's responsible. Clear?"

"Crystal," Spider-Man whispered. Black Cat was barely holding in her laughter. Spider-Man shot her daggers, and she nodded that she wouldn't say anything. They both leapt and swung away from the building. Once they were a few blocks away, Black Cat just broke down laughing.

"You have to be kidding me!" she cried threw tears of laughter. "They're threatening you against hurting yourself! How existential can you get!"

"Just shut up Felicia," Peter said as he slumped down against a wall.

He laughter wound down as she realized that Peter was really hurting over this. "What's wrong Spider?" she asked genuinely. Then Felicia remembered that the guy with the red visor had said that he was Peter's brother. "Is that guy… is he really your brother?"

"Half-brother," Peter answered in a hoarse whisper. "I just found out." He looked down at the pitch of the roof for a moment. "Its just not cool to lie to him like that," he said. "He just met me, and he already feels protective of me. And I'm lying to him."

Felicia wanted to comfort Peter in his lament, but she didn't know how to deal with such complex emotions. She knew she was shallow. She knew she couldn't help him. She bent down and kissed him on the forehead. "Sorry," she said genuinely, and swung off.

Peter finished his rounds for the night, and went to bed thinking it would be a week before he saw the institute again.


End file.
